Tag Archives: Craig Morgan

When Pam Tillis found out that Nashville’s Rochelle Center — a facility that helps care for disabled adults — hadn’t had a budget increase in 15 years, she was moved to help.

And a run-of-the-mill concert just wasn’t enough for Tillis.

“Hay Y’All! An All-Star Tribute to Hee Haw” will start at 7:30 p.m. March 4 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Tillis said the show will loosely follow the format of the popular television series offering music interspersed with comedy and even a few original members of the “Hee Haw” cast.

“I just hate to do anything by the book,” she said. “There’s just a lot of regular concerts around town and I thought, ‘Let’s just put a little spin on this.’ It’s a surprise. But to even have some of the original cast members is incredible because so many of them aren’t still with us.”

“It’s going to be pretty amazing,” Tillis said. “We’ve got sets and props. We’re all in. It has been a bear, but I’m inspired to do it. I wanted an event where people would go, ‘Wow.’ I love the idea of giving the audience more than they’ve ever expected out of a concert within our humble budget.”

Before the Country Music Hall of Famer’s death in April at age 81, he and his management were planning a Nov. 22 farewell concert at the Nashville venue with dozens of guest performers — friends that he couldn’t stand to leave out of the occasion.

Soon, that final concert before Jones’ retirement turned into a tribute to the late country legend, and the guestlist only grew.

Click here to see a photo gallery of "Playin’ Possum! The Final No Show" at Bridgestone Arena on Friday.Here, Dierks Bentley performs. (Photo: John Partipilio/The Tennessean)

11:11 p.m.: A tribute concert to George Jones would not be complete without “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Alan Jackson does the honors.

Then he invites Nancy Jones on stage and invites the audience to sing along.

“This is the greatest country song by the greatest country singer, Mr. George Jones,” Jackson says, as he again launches into the chorus of “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

“Thank you all so much,” he says, “George, we love you.”

Leaving the stage, his arm around Nancy Jones’ waist, Jackson stops to set the rocking chair on stage in motion. As the chair meant for Jones rocks slowly back and forth, the crowd claps and cheers begging for more.

But it is, indeed, the end.

George Jones (photo: Peyton Hoge).

George Jones’ tribute is complete, after almost four hours.

The audience has made it clear that, like his chair, it truly rocked.

11:09 p.m.: Stacy McCloud returns to the stage and invites the audience to recognize Nancy Jones.

George Jones' planned farewell concert in November will now be a tribute concert. Jones passed away on April 26. Click the photo for a gallery of images from Jones' funeral last week at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. (Tennessean File Photo)

The talent line up for George Jones’ tribute concert — originally planned as the Country Music Hall of Famer’s final concert in his farewell tour — continues to grow.

On Tuesday, Jones’ widow Nancy Jones revealed even more celebrities who are set to appear at the sold-out Nov. 22 concert at Bridgestone Arena, now entitled “Playin’ Possum! The Final NO Show.”

Jones, who struggled with alcohol abuse and earned a reputation over a period in his career for not showing up at his concerts, died in April at age 81.

“The evening of George Jones songs is going to be the best musical tribute Nashville has ever seen,” Nancy Jones said in a statement. “We have many surprises planned, and I just wish George could be here to see what we are doing for him.”

And he’s in the process of putting all of those traits on display in new and different ways.

Morgan’s new song, “Wake Up Lovin’ You,” from an upcoming album is getting some of the best reviews of his career.

As for what makes it so special? Morgan’s response is, “I wish I knew.”

“It’s one of those songs that when we sing it live and I see the reaction from the crowd, it’s like, ‘Man, I just do not understand it,’ ” he says. “I know it’s a hit. There’s an understood emotion in this song that you very rarely find.”

In addition to new music, Morgan also recently launched the fourth season of his show “Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors” on Outdoor Channel. This season, he’ll take viewers dog sledding through the arctic, zip-lining, and Wahoo fishing, among other things. He’s also including his family and his band and crew in this season’s episodes more than he has in the past. And sometimes his kids show-up his band members, as his 15-year-old son did on their trip to zip line in Georgia.

“My youngest kid did more of the zip-lining than some of my band members would do,” Morgan laughed. “He’s not a baby, but he’s young enough that we took some of my band member’s 'man' cards for a little while.”

Morgan’s series airs 10 p.m. Sundays.

The singer will also be busy this fall. Morgan his hosting his seventh annual charity event for Billy’s Place on Sept. 14 in his hometown of Dickson, Tenn. The event kicks off at 8 a.m. with a motocross exhibition and trail ride to be followed by a concert featuring Morgan and some unannounced special guests that evening at Dickson’s Renaissance Center.

An early morning drizzle didn’t keep fans from lining up outside of Riverfront Park for opening day of CMA Music Festival.

The sun peeked its head out from the dark cloud cover to shine on downtown Nashville, which has been transformed into a downtown bazaar. Though the line was long, everyone seemed to be in good spirits as the gate finally opened a little after 9 a.m. and the festival grounds become scattered with fans in cowboy hats and boots. Some are just arriving, others have been waiting all night with little to no sleep.

Fans lined up for hours to secure a spot at the Riverfront Park Stage on Thursday. (photo: Jay Powell)

Following the singing of the national anthem by Rachel Holloway, country artist Sara Evans took the stage, the first of many that will grace the Riverfront Park stage over the next four days. Evans, a Booneville, Mo., native, kept the audience singing along, taking them back a few years with hits including “Perfect” and “Born To Fly.”

“It’s so nice to see you, Nashville,” Evans says. “I’m from Missouri, and Nashville has become my second home.”

The rain held off for the rest of the morning, leaving a nice calm, cool setting for outdoor music.

Riverfront Park security also stressed that no backpacks will be allowed inside of Riverfront Park during the festival.

More than 200 military service members — Vietnam veterans and Tennessee National Guard members — walked a red carpet into the Grand Ole Opry House for Tuesday’s military appreciation night.

Many of the Opry members and other country singers on the Tuesday Night Opry mingled with the service members on the way in, including Sony Music Nashville recording artist Angie Johnson. Johnson, herself a veteran, spent six years serving in the Air Force and the last seven years as a member of the Air National Guard.

The evening was special for Johnson, who released her EP “Sing for You” that day and was making her first Opry appearance since joining Sony.

“Anytime I get invited to play the Opry it is a huge honor but tonight even more so because they are honoring the Vietnam veterans,” she said. “I jumped on the chance to be here for this.”

Johnson’s path to the Opry started while she was in the military. As a member of the Air Force Band, Johnson’s job was to meet troops and boost morale. During a visit to the Middle East, a soldier filmed her singing an Adele song and posted the video on YouTube. It went viral and Carson Daly reached out to Johnson on Twitter. Johnson, who had been a trying to make it for years as a country singer in Nashville, went on “The Voice” as a member of Cee Lo Green’s team. She says she didn’t last very long on the show, but when she came back to Nashville her drive to make it in country music had been reignited. Soon after, she was signed to Sony Music Nashville.

“I signed the contract without hesitation,” she laughs. “I’m the Cinderella in camo,” she said Tuesday.

While on the Opry stage, Johnson sang two songs from her EP and “The Star Spangled Banner,” because she says “it’s honestly my favorite song to sing.”

When she closed her three-song set, she invited the audience to stand and sing with her, which they did, many with their hands over their hearts.

“I feel like I’m singing to an audience full of family,” Johnson says of her military audience. “It’s a lot less nerve-racking than singing for room full of label executives or (judges) Blake (Shelton),Adam (Levine), Cee Lo and Christina (Aguilera) on ‘The Voice.’”

Other performers during military appreciation night included former service member Craig Morgan, who sang his patriotic “More Trucks Than Cars”; Bill Anderson, who performed “Army Hat”; and Lee Greenwood, who delivered his signature song “God Bless the USA.”

Sara Evans is set to launch the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage at CMA Music Festival, which is set for June 6-9 in downtown Nashville. Evans will play at 10 a.m. June 6.

The Chevrolet Riverfront Stage operates daily and is free and open to the public.

Sara Evans

“Sara is the perfect choice to launch the daily concerts on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage because of her great repertoire of hit music and undeniable connection to our fans,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer.

Tickets to CMA Festival’s nightly shows at LP Field are sold out, but tickets are still available for Fan Fair X at Music City Center. Admission to that event is $10 a day or $25 for four days at www.ticketmaster.com. Children 12 and under will be admitted free of charge.

Country singer Craig Morgan jokes that his desire to push himself to the limit with all things in life is why he’s still in the record business. He says it’s also why he’s game to participate in the Fjällräven Polar sled dog expedition, a 200-mile, five-day, dog sled race that will carry him through the Scandinavian arctic in temperatures that reach 70 degrees below 0.

“I’m a survivalist,” Morgan says. “I like testing my abilities and being in situations that require me to go above and beyond my general mindset. This is cool because it’s in an environment I’m not extremely familiar with. I’ve done the jungle and the desert to great lengths, but extreme cold weather I’ve only done a couple of times.”

Before the sled race, Morgan is set to spend the day with a native family in the Scandinavian mountains to experience their culture. Then he’ll take a helicopter from there to the race’s start point where he’ll meet up with his 21-year-old son Kyle, who is also participating. Morgan will be introduced to his dogs, get his sled, and then start the race. Along the way, he’ll camp in tents as well as build his own nightly shelters from snow and twigs.

“You set up camp, have dinner, feed the dogs, and then get up the next morning and do the same thing,” he says.

As far as food, he says he’ll eat dried fish and “whatever else the locals eat” instead of dehydrated food from REI.

“The greatest thing I hope to get is the cultural experience,” he says. “I also hope to learn something about the cold weather that I haven’t already experienced.”

But before Morgan begins the race on April 9, he’s heading to a much different part of the world. The singer will make his 10th trip over seas to entertain U.S. troops. This time he’s heading to Southwest Asia to an area that he explains hasn’t received entertainment in while.

“This is some of the most rewarding stuff,” he says. “It’s easy for us to forget here at home … they live in some very rough and difficult conditions while maintaining a positive attitude. It’s very exciting to go over there and be with them.”